I'm doing a 2500 mile oil and filter change on my 2005 XC 90 to flush out any nasty stuff. My questions are: (1) Do I have to remove the plastic skid plate to get to the filter, and (2) I understand the filter case is plastic, are there any torque settings. I haven't been able to find a service manual or repair manual for this car yet.

Yes you need to remove the plastic splashpan.
You will also need a special wrench to remove the filter housing.Then you pretty much just snug it up tight.It has a seal and sits inside the oil pan.Once it seats it doesn't take much for it to not leak.

I purchased an 05' xc90 in nov 05'. The salesperson told me that the first oil change isn't due until 7500 miles. I reluctantly beleived him. He said that the reason is because they use synthetic oil and that the engine is made of aluminum and because of the cooling properties of aluminum, the oil has a longer life due to it being used at alower temp. I now have about 5k miles. I called to double check about the 7500 miles thing and he told me, "your never going to beleive this, it isn't synthetic oil, its just 5-30." I usually change my oil every 3k miles with my other vehicles. So I need to figure out how to change this oil myself. I read the thread called "oil change" like the other fella mentioned. Has anyone since discovered any other threads, websites, manuals, etc. that has more descriptive explanations of the oil filter changing process?

You do not need to change oil that often. Buy Mobil 1 Extended Service and change at a minimum of 7500 miles. Personally, I go 7500 and plan to extend it out to at least 15K. I have not decided yet on whether or not I will do a filter change and top off the oil somewhere around 7-8K.

You do not need to change oil that often. Buy Mobil 1 Extended Service and change at a minimum of 7500 miles. Personally, I go 7500 and plan to extend it out to at least 15K. I have not decided yet on whether or not I will do a filter change and top off the oil somewhere around 7-8K.

If I were you I would not do the 15k oil changes. I have seen a ton of people do that and end up paying for the engine to be torn down to clean out the sludge in the engine.

That is even more true TECH in the northern states where condensation is so prevelant. But then again...........I have some snake oil that I would be willing to sell. Did I mention the bridge that I have? Let me add on a serious note that BMW who uses synthetic oil in all their autos used to religiously tell you that the oil needed to be changed (with filter) every 3,500 miles. They also stressed to keep the auto in warranty, the trans, radiator, and rear axle fluid had to be changed. Funny thing happened recently. BMW now pays for maintenance on all their autos and all of a sudden the oil change mileage has been set at 15,000 and most all of the fluids are now "lifetime" fill. What do you think????
R

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ORIGINAL: tech

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ORIGINAL: SROJOE

You do not need to change oil that often. Buy Mobil 1 Extended Service and change at a minimum of 7500 miles. Personally, I go 7500 and plan to extend it out to at least 15K. I have not decided yet on whether or not I will do a filter change and top off the oil somewhere around 7-8K.

If I were you I would not do the 15k oil changes. I have seen a ton of people do that and end up paying for the engine to be torn down to clean out the sludge in the engine.

Funny thing happened recently. BMW now pays for maintenance on all their autos and all of a sudden the oil change mileage has been set at 15,000 and most all of the fluids are now "lifetime" fill. What do you think????

The same w/ my '05 XC90: "free" maintenance for 3 years/30,000miles every 7500 miles. When asked the service advisor if it is too long interval, they replied that "the engines are now better made then before,and the oils are better too, so oil does not need to be changed every 3000 miles"

The above may be true, and if the car driven on highways only, the 7500 mile inteval could be fine, but w/ stop-and-go city traffic I changed oil first at 5000, and then brought my own Mobil1 to the first service. I hope that syhthetic oil would last 7500 miles in city driving.

Interesting approach from Honda: new Odyssey has a computer that counts RPMs, and it shows "oil life" left as percentage. So in the city driving my boss gets the message "10% oil life left" after about 4000 miles. This seems to be the most accurate measurment of engine/oil wear .

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Tire rotation IS NOT included in this "free" 7500 miles service. I am surprised that pollen filter IS included every 15,ooo miles

yurionel.............I'm glad you can see through the "new oil" change flim flam. BMW owners are up in arms over it (read the Roundel magazine) and pay for the more frequent service out of their own pocket. BMW charges in excess of $60.00 for an oil change and Volvo just charged me $52.00 for a change as I did not have time to do it myself. Just think what Volvo would be absorbing in costs if they changed your synthetic oil free every 3500 miles vs the 7500 they do pay for!!
r.

They charge $40.00 +tax here in New York, and if regular oil is used, oil change can be done at any shop every 3000-4000 miles for $25.00.
I hope that synthetic oil will last 7500 so I do not have to spend extra time on oil changes.

same w/ transmission fluid: Volvo does not even mention it in the manual, and when asked service dept., they said it does not need to be changed.
However, I have 1995 Volvo 850 and ever since I bought it 6 years ago, I have been changing fluid (last 2 times flushed it myself) every year, using synthetic fluid.

The result: when bought the car the fluid was dark red w/ burn smell, now it is light red w/ no smell at all, car has 162000 miles, so far no transmission problems.
So, this $60.00 spent on tranny flush may prevent $3K tranny replacement.

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I DID NOT change water pump when changing T-belt last time - hope it will last to the next belt.

Yurionel, I change the oil in all of my autos every 3500 miles and use Castrol Syntex with out exception. Every two years, with out exception, I flush the trans fluid, brake fluid, and antifreeze. As to the "oil change 'places'" I have heard too many instances of a 17 yr old kid with no education and no training truly screwing up customers autos. I have no need for that and refuse to go to those facilities. If I were you with a costly auto, I would use only Volvo filters. Quite frankly, I perform my own oil changes but some times due to my travel constraints I have to have the autos serviced at the dealer's facilities. I flush my brake fluid with ATE Super Blue however I have the dealer perform the trans and coolant changes. Lastly, be careful what trans fluid you use in your Volvo. TECH can tell you what fluid is correct but some Volvo transmissions use a particular fluid that cannot be substituted. Perhaps TECH will read this posting and help you with that issue..........he's invaluable to this forum!
Reg

Hey, I am new to this forum and have a few questions. I have a 2005 Volvo XC90 2.5t

First, the dealership uses synthetic blend by mobil 1. For my 22000 mile service I asked if it would make a difference using synthetic rather than synthetic blend. They said that it will not make a difference because the engine is designed for mineral oil and that we use synthetic blend to make sure nothing will go wrong. Well i have read, in a magazine, that turbo engines should only use synthetic. Also, using synthetic will it be ok if i change the oil every 7500 miles after using it? Will it increase my mpg? What are your recommendations for oil change intervals using synthetic and what kind of synthetic oil do you recommend?

I don't believe that Mobil Oil Company makes a synthetic blend. After all, they were the first on the popular market with a full synthetic. At any rate, Mobil 1 is a fully synthetic oil. As to using a blend, all the tech articles that I have read..........and it must be at least eight or nine.................inform one that you are THROWING YOUR MONEY AWAY USING A SEMI SYNTHETIC. It's a like being a "little pregnant".............you either are or aren't! I reccommend 5,000 mile changes with synthetic. My choice is Castrol but there is certainly nothing wrong with Mobil 1. If you really want to go first cabin, check out the red line producs..............absolutely the very best but costly.
reg.

Well I can tell you this. At least the stealership around here uses Castrol Synthetic Blend and nothing else on their Volvo's. Mine came with it and I switched over immediately to MOBIL 1 fully synthetic and will never go back.

You do not need to change oil that often. Buy Mobil 1 Extended Service and change at a minimum of 7500 miles. Personally, I go 7500 and plan to extend it out to at least 15K. I have not decided yet on whether or not I will do a filter change and top off the oil somewhere around 7-8K.

By all means, DO change the filter at the 7500 mile mark. Since Mobil 1 Guarranties the 15K, you can be sure, it will work just fine even at 25K miles. (as long as you make sure the oil is filters on regular base) I really don't see much problem.
In any case, I plan to do just that on my 2005 XC90 (45K Miles) . Change oil every 15K and filter every 7500 one.

I have a 1996, 960. Bought it new (Silicon valley, CA) . I use 10-30 Grade Mobil 1. I change oil every 10K miles. BUT change the filter every 5K miles. 110K miles and 11 years later. You can take a nap on the hood while going 100 Miles / hr. So far, no problem

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